


Just to Keep the Lights On

by SeptDeadDove



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blackmail, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Explicit Sexual Content, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/M, Forced Prostitution, Gaslighting, Hux is Not Nice, Power Imbalance, Sexual Manipulation, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-07-11 01:31:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15961841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeptDeadDove/pseuds/SeptDeadDove
Summary: Living on her own, Rey knew that she'd run into some troubles getting started. The chance to get out from under the thumb of Plutt at the halfway house had her running to the first apartment complex that would look past her inconsistent salary. There was just one rule. Rent was to be paid on time and in full by the first of the month.Mr. Hux was more than happy to let Miss Niima doanythingto prove that she's not a problem tenant after all.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [someassemblingrequired](https://archiveofourown.org/users/someassemblingrequired/gifts).



> This fic is inspired by an old non-SW roleplay that fell abandoned after the first few exchanges. I've always wanted to continue it and explore exactly just how far a desperate young woman will go to keep herself off the streets. 
> 
> This fic is not a nice fic by any means. It's dark and unflinchingly so. Proceed only if you're really alright with the level of dubious consent that Rey finds herself agreeing to.

Her hand trembled just before she straightened her back and let her knuckles rap on the door. It had taken all day to work up the courage to come down here empty handed. Eight long hours of combing through her checkbook, of pretending that she couldn’t leave the dishes like that in the sink, of doing anything but confronting the reality that she needed to ask for an extension on the rent. 

Just for a week, she’d calculated. Rey could work through her emergency food stocks, she could take on some extra work at the shop. But there was no pulling the extra three hundred she needed out of the air. Much as she tried. Much as she wished that she wasn’t down in the little dingy hallway waiting for her landlord to deign to answer his door.

Mr. Hux didn’t put up with “problem tenants.” Rey had assured him when she’d first signed the papers for her lackluster two bedroom apartment that she’d be able to make ends meet. And she had! Her job was just inconsistent. There wasn’t always an import car needing expensive body work every day of the week. Sometimes there were just simple lube, oil, filter changes that didn’t cover Rey’s full hours there. Really, all she needed was one extra week. She’d still  _ have _ the money for Hux. It just wasn’t all going to be together. 

She knocked again. Through the yellowed frosted glass she spotted his form moving around. Then it settled. “Enter,” a tired voice called. 

Rey twisted the knob and stepped inside. Her stomach, already filled to the brim with butterflies, flipped around itself.  _ Please,  _ please  _ let this go easily _ , she prayed.  “Mr. Hux. I’m sorry it’s so late in the day. I know you’re heading out soon, but this’ll be quick,” Rey said. 

He raised one slim, red eyebrow. “It should be. I believe your rent was due today, Niima,” Hux said in clipped tones. It was always this way. Mr. Hux and Niima - sometimes Miss, sometimes not. Never first names. 

Feet shifting beneath her, Rey fingered the envelope she clutched in her hand. “I know that,” she started. “I’ve got the check for you. The thing is…” Behind his desk, Hux crossed his arms. He was seated and she standing yet it felt much like Rey was back at the principal's office, pinned under the weight of his judgement. 

“You don’t have the full sum,” he finished when she failed to finish her thought. 

“Not yet,” Rey offered hopefully. Hux’s expression remained narrow, displeased. He flipped his palm up and twitched two fingers. Expectant. Rey darted in front of the shitty folding chair that Hux hadn’t even offered to her and placed the envelope into his waiting hand. 

With agonizing slow movements - and his eyes not leaving hers until he needed to scan the check over - Hux opened the envelope. His tongue clicked behind his teeth. “Three hundred dollars short. That’s no small amount.” 

“I know the lease agreement says no partial rent,” Rey breathed, “but I only need a week to get the rest. The shop’s been slow, but I know there’s a big recon coming in and that’ll more than cover things.” Her hands, now empty, wound around and around one another. 

Just as slowly as before Hux placed the check back into the envelope. “I thought that I had made myself clear when you first signed the lease. There are to be no accommodations for your own personal failings to make a living wage,” he said sharply. Rey’s face paled before the blood returned in a rush to tint her cheeks red. She made a living wage. It just- This was a one time deal! 

He didn’t hand the check back to her though. Rey fought past her embarrassment and shook her hair out of her face. “There isn’t any chance that the agreement could be… overlooked? For just a week?” she asked. “I’ll pay a fee. I’ll have plenty-” well, not exactly  _ plenty _ but enough to satisfy his money grubbing “-once I get back on my feet.” 

Silence. Behind those cold, green eyes Rey could see the wheels of Hux’s mind turning. She knew what kind of man he was. Promising a fee, reasonable compensation for making him wait for his money, would surely tip the scales in her favor. “Please, Mr. Hux?” Rey added quietly when he hadn’t replied. 

Hux twisted in his chair. The envelope went onto his desk right in the middle. Rey still rocked from one foot to the other. “A fee,” he repeated. 

“Yeah,” Rey said with a nod. It was working. She could tell. The knot in her stomach loosened. 

For the first time since she’d started bringing her checks down to the man, he stood up from his chair. The back of Rey’s knees hit the folding chair as she edged away, an unconscious motion. Stupid, really. He was just taller than she’d thought he would be. Rey had to tip her chin slightly to continue to meet his eye. 

“I think,” Hux said in that same clipped tone from earlier, “Miss Niima, that you should count yourself lucky that I’m a generous man.” He moved out from his desk, passing by her to flip the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED. 

“Then you’re giving me the extension?” Rey said, relieved. 

“On one condition,” he replied. His hand dropped down from the window to the doorknob. That single, subtle motion made the stuffy office drop below freezing. Or maybe that was just Rey’s blood turning to ice. 

She swallowed her nerves. It was stupid to react that way. They were coming to an agreement here. A late fee, that was all. “One condition?” she echoed. 

“Yes, Miss Niima. You see, I don’t think it makes sense for me to extract a monetary fee from you - much as I’d love to. It will only put you in the hole so to speak for next month. And I don’t think you want that,” Hux said. 

Rey had to wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. They’d gone dry along with the back of her mouth. “I mean… I think I’d be alright,” she insisted. 

“You think. But you don’t know. So I’d much rather avoid revisiting this conversation on the first of next month as well. You can pay me back with your time. Time is money after all,” Hux said. Rey watched his thumb stroke over the push button lock on the door. His gaze had shifted from simply looking at her to look her over. He took in her loose hair, her “around the house” button up over a tank top too tight around the chest, her cutoff shorts. All of which had felt more than comfortable while Rey was running around her apartment whittling away the hours before coming down here, yet now she felt far too exposed as Hux’s eyes raked over each curve of her body. 

It wasn’t  _ decent _ what he was insinuating. This wasn’t some flea-bitten hole in the wall complex. She’d had to put in a background check to be considered as a tenant. But apparently the standards stopped when it came to the management. 

“Absolutely not,” Rey said. She drew her feet together and crossed her arms quickly over her chest. 

Hux pushed the lock in. “No?” he said, his head tipping now even as his gaze became more predatory. “Then you’re going to break your lease agreement? I’ll expect you out by the morning. That is what you signed with me.” 

Back on the street? Rey’s defensive posture slumped. She’d scraped together so much to get out from the halfway house. There was no way she could go back there now. Not back to Plutt. “I- wait! Hang on,” Rey sputtered. “Let’s be reasonable.”

Hux leaned on the low cabinet next to the door. He wasn’t blocking her escape and that lock would pop open the instant she turned the knob. Yet Rey still knew she was trapped, pinned by the zero strike policy she’d so spinelessly signed on to. There was no legal argument she could make against him for kicking her out. He had every right to enforce the lease she’d agreed to. 

This was just… the far lesser of the two horrible answers to her situation. Rey skirted around the folding chair. Forcing herself to edge towards the man who was fully eyeing her like a piece of meat took all her strength. She slowly bent her arms back down to her sides. 

“I’m a reasonable man. I just want something for the service that I’m doing you. So. I think it’s only fair that  _ you  _ service  _ me _ ,” Hux said, his mouth twisted in a smirk. 

Rey’s spine went rigid. “What kind of service-” she spat the word “-are we talking about?” 

Hux tipped his head. His expression remained smug as ever. “Miss Niima. I’m not asking for you to spread your pretty little legs,” he said. Rey’s heart dropped down from where it had been residing in her throat. 

“Oh,” she exhaled.

“But you are still going to service me.” He shifted his hips to lean fully on the cabinet behind him. His hands rested on top of the papers there. 

Rey looked once more to the door. She could still walk out. Tell Mr. Hux just where he could shove his service fee. There was just the little issue of now needing the three hundred dollars today or she’d be homeless tomorrow. Maybe if she hadn’t waited the day away, if she’d called one of her friends and just asked, if only Rey hadn’t made a thousand other excuses the minute she realized she was coming up short this month. 

Each of those “if onlys” balled up deep in her gut, weighing her feet down from moving farther than the two steps she took to close the gap between herself and Hux. She reached out a trembling hand to rest on his belt. Her mouth had gone dry once more, and Rey had to clear her throat before she could speak again. 

“Come on, girl,” Hux growled. “It’s not going to suck itself.” He hadn’t budged to undo his fly; Hux was making Rey do everything. 

Rey looked down at his pants. Her other hand came up to join the first, thumb resting on the buckle. She could still… She could… She pulled on the thick leather, releasing the buckle’s pin and loosening the belt. With another tug Rey had his belt coiled in one hand. It wasn’t great having a belt slapping you in the face while you went down on someone, and Rey didn’t think that Hux was about to drop everything down just for her to blow him. That would put him in far too unsightly of a position. No, Hux seemed the type to expect her to pull him out and get him off with as little disturbance to his wardrobe as possible. 

Unzipping his fly came next as the top button popped open with jaunty ease. Then tugging the elastic waistband of his drawers down to finally release his cock. Pre-cum smeared on Rey’s hand when she dragged the cloth past his weeping head. She stopped to wipe her hand off with side of her shorts. Her quick glance back up to meet Hux’s eyes only caused him to sneer. 

“Why aren’t you down on your knees yet?” Hux snapped. 

She ripped her eyes back down to his cock. It twitched in her hand, another bead of pre-cum forming at the tip. He was getting off on this. Of course he was. That was the whole point. Rey just had to get through the next few minutes and then she could start on forgetting this had ever happened. 

The short pile of the carpet bit her knees the second that she knelt down. Tiny shifts back and forth only ground the cheap fibers more into Rey’s flesh. She focused on the pain rather than the bobbing shaft now directly in front of her eyeline. But she couldn’t ignore it completely. Her thumb ran along the bottom of Hux’s cock as she gave a few short pumps. He was already hard from the few motions there. More so, Rey suspected, he was enjoying having manipulated Rey into this position in the first place. She didn’t have to look at the arrogant gleam in his eyes to know that this was exactly what he had in mind the minute that Rey said she didn’t have full payment. 

Yet still Rey peeled her lips back and took his flared head into her mouth. Salty slick touched her tongue as she lapped at his tip. She pumped at his base in rhythm with her ministrations as she coated his shaft in spit. God, she was giving head the same way she had with her last boyfriend. Down even to the pauses to give broad, quick licks to his tip. But tasting him wasn’t so bad. This wasn’t so bad if she just-

“Good girl,” Hux hissed. Rey drew back and let go of him with a pop. He looked down at her, confusion creasing his brow. No, she couldn’t  _ just _ do anything. This was wrong. This was all wrong. But she still had to do it. Rey pressed her eyes shut and started her hand motions once more. 

Again she opened her mouth. Again she dropped her jaw down just so to let Hux in without grazing her teeth. Rey let her hand fall as she edged forward to take all of him in for the first time. His head pressed against her throat. If she went slow enough, it wouldn’t set off her gag reflex. Finn had always been gentle, taking whatever she’d give him before pulling back. 

Hux was demanding. He groaned in satisfaction as Rey took all of him again and hissed when she edged back. He wasn’t content to just get what she was giving. His hand came down to card through her hair and drag her forward once more. He held her there longer than she had, his head twitching against her throat. Rey’s hands scrambled against his hips to force her head back. It was too much. She was gagging. 

Rey twisted her head and wrenched his cock out, coughing and sucking in air. His hand was still around her hair though, and she couldn’t pull away, not without it hurting more. “Come on,” Hux growled. “It’s like you don’t even want to show how appreciative you are.” 

Her cheeks burned. That was  _ not _ what was happening here. “Be a good girl again and take it all,” he said. Hux’s fingers tightened and pulled at her hair until her eyes welled with tears. 

Rey opened her mouth again and took him. He dragged her along his length roughly. Every pull forced him against the back of her throat. Rey endured his pace, using every ounce of her self control to not give in to the urge to throw up. His grip loosened and Rey continued to take him as deep as he’d wanted and as fast. She could feel Hux’s body tensing under her hands, her only warning as she plunged one final time down his length before he started to come. 

Should she-- What should-- Rey didn’t have time to consider what she was intended to do, hastily pulling back from his cock before too much of his load had shot in her mouth. The rest of it came out in ropes on her chin and lips. Rey froze, her hands hovering in the air as he finished. 

Hux let out a final deep sigh before he looked down once more at Rey. She couldn’t meet his gaze, certainly not as he neatly tucked himself back into his pants and stepped around her like she was an inconveniently placed bit of furniture. He bent down to take his belt before returning behind his desk. Rey finally felt her limbs return to her control and she wiped the semen off her face as best she could. Drips landed on her shirt and shorts. The scent and taste hit her in a wave, and she gagged again despite having already swallowed anything that had landed on her tongue. 

“Try not to make a mess in here,” Hux said shortly. Rey pushed herself to her feet and reached for the doorknob. She couldn’t  _ look _ at him. 

“You have four days,” he said. Rey flinched. That hadn’t been what she asked for. 

“What happened to a week?” she whispered. 

She heard him fastening his belt. “I’ll be happy to give you a week, but I didn’t think that performance was quite worth seven days of delaying my money. Try harder. Maybe swallow next time,” he replied. 

Rey turned the knob and scurried from the office, her knees aching. 

She brought him a new check three and a half days later. 


	2. Chapter Two

She went a bit hungry, but Rey didn’t have to ask for an extension the next month. Her AC unit sat dormant when she realized that starving herself wasn’t quite so sustainable. Food was necessary. Comfort wasn’t. She would just have to put up with the last of the season’s heat waves. 

The bastard had been right in a way: once she was off of her pay schedule it was exhausting to scrape together the full rent amount for the first of the month. Six weeks of sweltering heat had her lightheaded when she stood up, but Rey was determined to tough it out. There was just one problem that loomed menacingly on the horizon. 

The shop was going to be closed right at the end of September. Not permanently, but the owner was putting in some renovations to the lift systems and overhauling a lot of their workspace. He’d first suggested that maybe Rey and the other mechanics could put in piecemeal work at one of the local dealers that he had ties to; but as the month quickly wound down it became apparent to Rey that he had never put in the effort to follow through. 

Rey watched her checking account dwindle, scraped together a pair of days as a house mover, and waited on bated breath to see if she’d have enough by the first of the month. 

She nearly cried when she opened her mailbox on payday and spied the piddling amount that her boss had sent. If she was  _ only _ paying rent it still would have barely covered the total. Never mind the water and electric bills, groceries, and paying for gas to continue making it to work once the shop was open again. 

Pulling up her phone calendar only made her eyes well up again. She had two days to find a miracle. Her heart jumped when the front door snapped closed next to her. Rey quickly rubbed the heel of her palm to wipe away any trace of the tears that had certainly  _ not _ been starting to fall. She didn’t want to be seen crying by  _ him _ . 

Hux barely even considered her as he breezed past, briefcase in hand. Rey’s worry ebbed to the normal, only slightly nauseating amount as she watched him cross the lobby and head towards the hallway to his office. 

_ She’d need to go and see him once more.  _

Rey buried her face in her phone rather than confront that thought. Two days. What could she do in two days to make up the difference in her finances? 

“Oh, Miss Niima,” Hux’s voice came from the entrance to his godforsaken den. “Please make an effort to drop off your checks personally in the future. We don’t want them getting lost.” 

She'd been shoving them under the crack in his door ever since the… extension agreement. Especially if she saw the Open sign. Of course he wasn't going to let her continue doing that. Rey bared her teeth and stormed her way to the staircase. 

Two days later she dragged herself to stand once again outside his office. There was no putting off the inevitable any longer. October had snuck in overnight and rent was due. Throwing her shoulders back, Rey knocked. Hux made her wait several moments before telling her to enter. Actually pulling the door open took more out of Rey than anything she'd done to scrimp and save. 

Behind his desk, Hux glanced up at her. Immediately his lip curled smugly and he put his pen down. “Miss Niima. You can close the door behind you, please,” he said. 

Rey hovered in the doorway. His tone didn’t invite questioning. She pulled the door closed behind her as she stepped into the lion’s den. Hux settled back onto his chair, his fingers steepling. 

Neither of them spoke. Rey fidgeted with the envelope in her hands. She’d wanted to just slide it under the door - his request be damned - but Rey couldn’t. He more than likely have then claimed it was lost. Worse though than that was the missing hundred from the total. Try though she had, Rey needed that hundred for food. She was too proud to go to a soup kitchen. 

Her teeth ground back and forth before she opened her mouth. “I have my check, Mr. Hux,” she said. 

“I can see that,” he replied. “Will I be happy with the amount it details?” Rey flinched and his smile deepened. 

“Lets see the damage then.” He really shouldn’t have been smiling. He should have been upset, pissed even. Rey’s hand somehow remained steady as she held the envelope out to him. 

It was only one hundred short. Only one hundred. Only one. 

Hux’s tongue clicked as he read the total. “Niima, I’m disappointed but unsurprised,” he said. 

“The shop was closed,” Rey said in a rush, pushing nonexistent hair out of her face. Hux threw the envelope and check back at her. It slid across the desk and would have fallen if Rey hadn’t jerked forward to grab it. “It’s just- I know it’s short- Please,” she sputtered. 

He returned to leaning back, no more stressed over Rey’s situation than a titan to an ant’s worries. “Please what?” Hux said sharply. “Please take pity on you after I explicitly said it wasn’t my problem that you don’t bother to earn a living wage?” Rey’s blood pressure spiked. She had tried! She’d tried all goddamn week. Her hands still were blistered from dragging furniture around as a fucking day laborer. 

But there was nothing she could think to say to counter his ire. Rey’s shoulders slumped and she gripped her check in her hand. “Please let me… do something to make up for it,” she whispered. “It’s only a hundred dollars.” The amount felt like a million for all that Rey could put her hands on. 

She felt sick. Hux hadn’t responded. Rey dragged her eyes from the blotter on his desk that she’d been glued to since he threw her money back at her. He had a hunger in his eyes. They both knew exactly what he was waiting for her to do. 

Rey put the crumpled check on the folding chair seat and stepped to the side. Forced her feet to carry her around his desk past the bookcase. Brushed her hair back into place with a shaking hand. 

Hux turned his chair and watched patiently as Rey approached. His arms sat now on the armrests. Out of the way. Rey’s mouth watered - god why was  _ that _ happening - and she swallowed as she dropped one knee down and then the other. He still hadn’t said anything. Rey reached over to his waist to unbuckle his belt. 

“Please,” Rey whispered. 

He shifted to pull his belt all the way off. Otherwise, it was like before. Rey had to unfasten his pants. His cock strained against his briefs, bobbing to attention when she exposed it. 

Unlike before though Hux wasn’t content to let Rey take her own pace. His free hand immediately gripped the back of her head and drew her mouth over his shaft. Rey braced her hands on the seat of his chair and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see as her nose was pressed right into the reddish stubble around his base. It was impossible to ignore the cock in her mouth though, and Rey once again tasted his slick on her tongue. 

All the mental gymnastics she’d gone through in those past weeks to forget what she’d done were useless wastes of time. She instantly remembered how he canted his hips when she sucked just right, how his fingernails would rake against her skin when he wanted more. Rey shifted to be closer and hoped - prayed - that the grunting her adjusted angle had elicited were good. She had to please him. 

It sickened her to be here in this position again. On her knees, deepthroating the man who had just mocked her. She didn’t want to consider how often  _ Hux _ had thought of her here. Had he waited these past two months? Watched the days tick closer and closer to the first of the month only to be disappointed when she delivered on her rent successfully?

His need was still greater than she was comfortable with, her throat spasming as his head rammed against it over and over. He was vicious and demanding. 

Her hands scrabbled when the gagging became too much to ignore and - mercifully - he let go of her hair. Rey pulled off of his cock to pant and dry retch. “Better,” he grunted. “Don’t you dare start crying.” 

She wiped at the tears that had welled up from her efforts. They had been involuntary, and Rey certainly wasn’t  _ crying  _ over giving him head. Her cheeks burned. Shame, deep and resentful, rose up in a renewed wave. 

Rey dipped her head down to take his cock again. She made a noise - or tried to past his meaty shaft - when something twisted around her throat. Her eyes flew open and she realized that Hux had pulled his belt around her neck and was now holding the ends in one hand. She drew back only to be stopped by his hold, his cock still in her mouth. 

“Keep going. You’re not done yet, Niima,” he ordered. 

She groaned in distress. Hux’s cock twitched in her mouth from the sound. No! Not it wasn’t like  _ that _ . She wasn’t  _ enjoying  _ this. Nevertheless he pulled her down to take him fully again. Back. Down. Back and down. Slowing slightly as Rey eased into the pattern. 

A knock at the door. Rey’s heart hammered and she pulled hastily away from Hux. His grip on the belt loosened and he had to yank harshly to get her back down to his waist. “Don’t stop,” he growled, low and insistant. 

They couldn’t come in. Rey had her hands on Hux’s legs and his cock throbbing in her mouth. She was only half hidden at best by his desk. Rey forced herself to dip down, brush her lips against his base, and come back up. He wasn’t going to let someone walk in on this. She was certain. 

“Who is it?” Hux said loudly. Rey’s fear and shame redoubled as she remembered that she hadn’t locked the door. Why would she have? She hadn’t come in intending to be blow the man again. She  _ hadn’t _ , no matter what that small voice in the back of her head said. 

“It’s Mit. Just letting you know unit 42 is all set,” a man called back from the hall. Hux’s hand had returned to the back of Rey’s head, encouraging her to keep up her attentions. 

Hux thanked the man and - blissfully - Rey heard him walk away. She shuddered before renewing her ministrations. 

It only took another few seconds before Hux tensed under her hands and hissed, his release spilling into her throat. Rey forced herself to swallow as much as she could, pulling back when her overworked gag reflex threatened to overwhelm her. The belt around her had loosened, and Rey finally dropped away from Hux’s shaft. 

Her mouth tasted solely of him, and her throat ached inside and out. Hux eyed her lazily as she pulled herself to her feet. He didn’t put himself back into his pants until she returned to the other side of the desk and took her check again. 

“You’re going to take this now,” Rey said hoarsely. She wiped the spit from her face with the back of her hand. 

He pulled open a drawer and took out an honest to god money clip. Thumbing through it, he pulled out two fifty dollar bills. Hux’s green eyes glinted as he held the bills up. “I can give you one or both of these,” he said. Rey’s heart sank. 

“Why?” she asked. 

His lip quirked. “You earned it, Niima. You’re getting fifty dollars for your rent one way or the other. It’s just a question of whether or not you’ll take the second fifty and come back to earn it tomorrow.”

Rey fought herself from whining. He was holding her retribution in one hand. She just had to decide if it was worth it to debase herself one more time to earn it. Rey reached out and snatched one of the bills. “I’ll find the difference in my budget,” she said shortly. 

Hux placed the second on the corner of his desk and flicked his fingers towards the door. “Very well then. Come back with your new check,” he replied. As she opened the door, he added, “If you change your mind you’ll have to come before four. I’m leaving the office early tomorrow.” 

She slammed the door shut behind her. Rey crumpled her check into a ball and shook her head to keep from screaming. There wasn’t money in the budget to cover the difference. She rushed upstairs to brush his taste from her teeth and used nearly a cup of mouthwash to save her tongue as well. It didn’t change the facts. 

Rey carefully wrote out the full rent amount in her check and dutifully walked down to Hux’s office. He barely looked up when she entered but his smirk returned when she quietly took the second bill and replaced it with her rent. 

“See you tomorrow, Niima,” he promised.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey struggles to get ahead, and she even thinks for a whole month that she's got Mr. Hux in his place once again. 
> 
> He doesn't want to let go.

She actually threw up this time. Shuddering and gasping, Rey gripped the toilet bowl and weathered the last few mercifully dry heaves. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t  _ fair _ . 

Rey was disgusted with herself. She’d taken that damn extra money from Hux and had to “service” him again. And he had been just so smug. So self-assured when she walked into his office this morning. She couldn’t even remember what they’d said to one another. All Rey could think about was his taste in her mouth, the very thing that had set off her vomiting. 

She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her palm. Vomiting made her tear up every time. It didn’t even give her the same catharsis as an actual cry would. Instead, Rey just felt weak. 

Slamming on the handle, Rey dragged herself up from the toilet and washed her mouth with water. She followed up with the last of her mint mouthwash. She’d been going through an awful lot of it lately, finding herself unable to get rid of a phantom salt taste. 

Rey splashed some water on her face for good measure, too. “You’re a survivor,” she muttered to herself. She wouldn’t let herself be beaten by something so pathetic as a blowjob. 

* * *

November 1st Rey smugly deposited her check on Mr. Hux’s desk without a word. There was a bounce in her step as she headed out to work. Money had been flowing again with the shop’s reopening. She’d even bought herself an early holiday present and paid for her bus pass for the next four months. Beyond that, she had even stocked up her fridge and pantry for the first time in ages. 

She was taking control of her life again. But even still, she hadn’t quite been able to keep from looking at the spot on the floor in Hux’s office where she’d first--  _ She was taking  _ control _ of her life. _ There were no buts about it. 

That smug feeling lasted for the rest of the week whenever she walked through the lobby. Unless she got sick or there was an issue at the shop, Rey knew she’d have her rent ready to shove in Hux’s goddamn face. 

There was one day when he was passing through opposite her. His briefcase slammed into her knee in what Rey knew was no accident. She swallowed her irritation and gave him a blithe smile instead. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Hope it doesn’t bruise, though you might not notice.” 

Rey’s smile dropped. His twitched wider and he turned to continue out the door. 

How dare he insinuate anything of the sort. And in the center of the goddamn lobby. But he was exactly that sort of man. Rey fumed for the rest of the night. She took solace in knowing he could only hurt her with his remarks. There was no way Rey was going to allow him to manipulate her again. 

It did kill her smug mood, though, and Rey fell into the rest of November with her usual impatient, irritable attitude. Particularly when she received notice that her utilities bills were being raised to account for increased demand across the building. It wasn’t  _ that _ great of a percentage increase, and worse it was fully within the city’s legislation. But still, it cut further short Rey’s internal gloating over Hux. She could estimate what her new fees would be, but there was no being sure how things would shake out until the bills started to roll in.

Rey dutifully checked her mailbox each morning. She even checked on Thanksgiving, just to be sure that she wasn’t missing anything. Usually public utilities sent out their invoices like clockwork on the 15th. But here she was coming up now on the fourth week of the month without a single clue what her budget should look like. 

The worry ate at her, burrowing into her stomach like a tick and sucking out every last ounce of year-end happiness she could normally scrape up. By the 28th Rey resigned herself to the inevitable PAST DUE notice and went down to give Hux his December check. 

“Ah, Miss Niima. Don’t run out so fast this time,” Hux said. He put his pen down when she stepped inside his wretched office. Rey warily approached his desk, envelope in hand. 

She didn’t close the door behind her this time, either. Thankfully he seemed too preoccupied to ask. Hux leaned out to pull something off of his printer. “I’d been meaning to get these notices out, but you know how the holidays can be,” he said. 

Rey arched an eyebrow. No. In fact she didn’t know how the holidays would  _ ever _ affect a man like Hux. “What is it?” she replied icily. 

He turned back and held out a printout for her to take. Rey stared at it without budging. Anything that Hux was handing out should be regarded as dangerous, much like the man himself. “What’s this?” Rey repeated. 

“Official notice,” Hux said flatly. Rey’s heartbeat jackhammered into overdrive. She snatched the page from him. 

“I’ve got my rent right here. You can’t kick me out. I haven’t broken any rules,” she insisted. He’d printed on the management office’s official letterhead. This couldn’t be happening. Not after everything she’d done to remain. 

Hux chuckled humorlessly. “You’re not being removed, Niima. I’m shocked you’d jump to that conclusion. Worried about breaking policy?” he said wryly. Rey ignored him and scanned the notice. He was right. It wasn’t an eviction notice. In fact, it was addressed to the entire building, not her specifically. Management was giving official notice that building utilities were being billed directly through the agency - not the city - as of November 15th. 

Rey glared at him. “This is bullshit,” she hissed. “You’re…” Well, she didn’t know exactly what he was playing at, but this smelled of another one of his ploys. 

“I’m what?” he asked in turn, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t take kindly to aimless accusations. This goes hand in hand with the increase given by the city. And it’s within the lease agreement for management to take over receiving utility payments. I pay for the whole building and it’s  _ me  _ left holding the bag when you default on your bill.”

Rey’s gut churned and she folded the notice to put into her pocket. Payment was due on the 1st as well, alongside rent. “And the leniency that the city normally gives on late pay?” Rey asked through gritted teeth. 

Hux’s lip quirked. “I’ve been very clear with you-” he emphasized addressing her “-on how I consider late pay.” 

Her hackles raising, Rey threw the rent check down on his desk. “Fine,” she spat. “I’ll bring you another check by Friday. Until then, I’ll see myself out.” She stormed into the hall and slammed the door behind her. It didn’t quite feel like the victory she’d hoped it would be. 

* * *

After Rey had calmed down - three fingers of cheap whiskey will do that to a woman Rey’s size fairly quickly - she remembered her original problem. She still didn’t know what her utilities bill was supposed to be this month. The city had never mailed it out to her. Studying Hux’s blasted notice only made her angrier. She’d rushed out of there, making a proper fool of herself, all the while he had her invoice somewhere in the office with him. 

Rey refilled her tumbler. She  _ really _ didn’t want to head back down there. Seeing his slimey mug twice in one day was too much. Then, she got a horrible, perfect idea. Undoubtably he was going to continue to hold on to her invoices even if she went down there now to get this one. He clearly enjoyed watching her squirm just standing in his office. But two could play at the “official notice” game. 

She stretched to grab her laptop and typed up a simple letter. No flowery language. No litigious threats. Just enough to declare that she needed her utility invoice delivered to her within a reasonable window of management having received it - two or three days at most to account for weekends. Feeling like she was  _ finally _ a step ahead, Rey clicked print. 

Hux’s expression tipped just a tad from neutral to disappointed when she handed it over to him. Good. A victory. 

* * *

Late, late,  _ late _ ! Rey swarmed around her bedroom trying to find where the blood hell her shoes had gone last night. Saturdays were her one day that she got to sleep in before work - going in at the scandalous 10am instead of 6:30 - yet she always had to scramble to get out the door after lounging all morning. Something about the sun having risen past her windows and the nice, calm breakfast she got to eat put her too at ease. Well, as at ease as Rey ever got. 

With both shoes tracked down, Rey hopped on one foot to put them on as she moved down the hallway. She heard a rapping at the door. Someone was using the door knocker, not just knocking with their knuckles. None of Rey’s friends did that. Hell, none of Rey’s friends were  _ awake _ yet this hour on a Saturday. 

“Coming!” she yelled before cursing as she tripped over her undone shoelaces. When she pulled the door open Rey felt even more unbalanced. Hux strode into her apartment like he owned the place. Which… he did. But Rey was so surprised to see him that she had given him the window inside with her backpedalling. 

“What are you doing here?” Rey spat. He was midway between her kitchen and tiny living room, hands tucked neatly behind his back. His stance was easygoing, confident. Rey swallowed back her nerves. He couldn’t do anything to her. She’d protected herself. 

“Such a change in tone,” Hux commented. 

Rey crossed her arms and kept the door open with the toe of her shoe. “I have places to be, Mr. Hux,” she replied shortly. “Whatever you need can wait.” 

He clicked his tongue condescendingly. “I would hardly call two hundred dollars something that can wait,” he said. 

_ Two hundred… _ Rey couldn’t possibly have owed him a single goddamn  _ dime _ never mind two hundred dollars. He had to be lying. Rey wrapped her arms more tightly in front of her. “I’ve paid you fully. You got the utility check yesterday and rent the day before,” she insisted. It had wiped out the rest of her budget completely with the hike of needing to pay for heating, too, something she hadn’t used all October and had frankly forgotten would be added to her already high utilities. But she’d paid it in full and on time. 

“You paid based on the old rates,” Hux said. “There was an error on the invoice and the difference is one hundred and ninety seven dollars. So, no. You didn’t pay in full. And I’m here to collect.” 

His gaze scanned over Rey’s apartment, raking over knick knacks, her few photographs, and the hand quilted blanket cast over her couch with great disdain. When he circled fully around his attention pinned Rey in place. “I… I need that in writing,” she said with a shake of her head. 

Hux extracted one hand from behind his back to pass her the invoice. Rey had to step away from her door to take it, and there was a soft  _ oomf _ as it closed behind her. “This is ridiculous,” Rey said as she looked at the page. Exactly as he said there remained the huge balance on her account. 

He closed the gap between them, crunching the top of the paper with how close he stood. “Miss Niima, are you telling me that you can’t pay me what I’m rightfully due? After receiving adequate notice from both myself and the city that rates were changing?” He threw her words from her pathetic backlash to him right on back at her. 

Rey kept her eyes from meeting his. She stepped back but he followed, his motions leonine and sure. Her shoulder blades hit the door behind her. Hux’s hand pressed next to her face, and he leaned in close enough that his nicotine breath fanned over her cheek. 

“You’d better be able to give me something right now,” he hissed, “or I’ll be calling for them to come and evict you  _ today _ .” 

Eviction. Her one, painful,  _ obvious _ weak spot. Rey’s vision went spotty. “Please, no. Please you can’t do that,” she breathed. 

“Can’t I?” Her worst fear was once again nipping at her heels, baying for blood. She couldn’t go back to the street. 

Rey froze, her eyes screwed shut as she begged. “Please don’t. Please.” 

She felt his other hand come up to finish pinning her to the door. Felt his knee press between her legs. “What would you have me take this time, Niima? Because I’ve a funny feeling you don’t have two hundred dollars sitting around in this shithole,” Hux snarled. 

“I don’t know!” Rey cried. “But I’m begging you - just tell me what you want.”

“I  _ want _ my goddamn money, Niima,” he roared, slamming his fist against the door inches from her ear. Then he quieted, his nose pressing against Rey’s ear as he said, “If you can’t give me it then I’ll have to extract collateral. Because there’s no way I’m giving you two hundred for another shitty blowjob.” 

Rey nodded, her motions frantic. She wanted to cover her face, to flinch away, to do something to get away from the man she’d let into her home. But there was no escaping him now. “Okay,” she whispered. She could feel his nose in her hair as her head bobbed. “Okay.” 

Finally he released her, storming away to pace back and forth on the floor. Rey stumbled to her couch and sat on the arm, trying to will her body to stop shaking. When had she started to shake? 

Mr. Hux’s motions ate up the square footage of Rey’s floor. His pacing seemed to calm his rage somewhat, compressing him down into his usual crystal of frustration and demands. He whirled on his heel to regard Rey. Teeth glinting under the snarl he had passing for a smile, Hux finally said, “I know what I want from you, Niima.”

Rey pressed her eyes shut. It was easier than looking at him as his steps brought him closer and closer. She swallowed back a whimper as his hand cupped the base of her chin. His thumb caressed her bottom lip. “I know exactly what I want from you, Niima,” he repeated. His voice dropped down to a low whisper. “And I know that others will want it from you as well.”

A sob welled up in Rey’s chest. “Please,” she begged, though she couldn’t quite tell herself if she was begging for or against his proposition. All Rey knew was that she didn’t want to lose her home. 

Hux’s hand dropped from her face to her chest, dragging down along the front of her shirt to make it strain against the buttons there. “Take this off,” he demanded. “I’ll need proof you’re not some catfish phoney to get good clients on the line.”

Rey’s shoulders shook and she tossed her head from side to side. “Please don’t,” she begged. Hux’s fingernails raked against the fabric. 

“I need collateral. You’ve given your body as it before. This is no different,” he insisted. 

Chest heaving, Rey drew her fingers up to unfasten the buttons there. 


	4. Chapter Four

Hux had forced her to strip down and pose for his wretched photos. First shirtless, then topless, then nothing at all. Lastly, he’d taken advantage of the fact that she was “already on her knees” and extracted another messy bit of servicing from her. 

Worse, after all that he simply walked out her front door without further commentary. Rey, now over an hour late for her shift, nearly called out for the rest of the day. But it was Saturday and she’d be throwing away nearly a third of her pay for the week that way. She threw on fresh clothes, retched over her sink for a minute, and popped several pieces of gum in her mouth. That was all that she allowed herself for recovery after the intrusion. 

Later when she had returned home, Rey allowed herself a good sob in the shower. She let the water run over her back until she shook under the frigid spray. Then she bundled herself up in a towel and barricaded herself in her bedroom. 

At least he hadn’t come in here. Rey took as much solace as she could from the thought while she still had the chance. His demands for the degrading photos promised only more misery. 

Were his so called clients going to come to her? Was Rey going to be thrown out on the corner to appease every Tom, Dick, and Harry that Hux knew? Her jaw ached from this morning; he’d been rough again. Rey clutched a pillow to her stomach, curling around the bit of softness as though it could somehow counteract the hell she’d landed herself in. What were these clients expecting? And when was Rey going to say  _ enough? _

* * *

She flinched every time there were footsteps in the hallway. Waited on baited breath to see if they would stop at her door. Collapsed into a shaking wreck when each time yielded nothing. Rey would have thrown herself completely into her auto work if there were more hours  _ to _ claim. She’d already asked to come back in on Saturday at the earlier time and been declined.

Rey just had to wait for whatever Hux’s plan was to get into motion. 

* * *

It didn’t come with a neat knock on her door. Rey opened her mailbox and nearly missed the white post-it stuck on her monthly invoice. That was until it fluttered off and landed on the ground. Rey leaned down to grab it and froze when she recognized the handwriting. 

> _ Apt 40. 10pm. _
> 
> _ Try some heels. And don’t forget to swallow.  _

Ten PM? Rey’s mind seemed unable to focus on exactly what she was being told to do, latching on instead to the timing of it all. She liked to be securely home by then, cooking a late dinner or tucked in with take out and mindless television. 

Funnily enough, Rey didn’t think that Hux would take “I don’t like being out of the house late” as an excuse for reneging on the two hundred dollars she still owed. Rey crumpled up the note and stormed back upstairs. The rest of her early evening was ruined. No matter how much she tried to ignore it, she found herself looking at the clock and agonizing over what was to come. 

She didn’t even eat, throwing her microwaved mac and cheese in the bin rather than continuing to push it around the bowl with her fork for another hour. Twenty minutes before the demanded time Rey slowly combed over her wardrobe. Heels. She might have been… going along with this whole ordeal, but she didn’t quite get why she needed to dress any differently. 

As time ticked ever on, Rey finally threw on a denim miniskirt and some brown sandals that could have been called heels. That was as much effort as she was going to give Hux. Hell, if she did a bad job maybe he’d abandon the whole power game and finally put her out of her misery by acting on his eviction threat. 

She swallowed hard. No, that wasn’t what she really wanted. Rey picked at her fingernail polish for another few minutes before pushing herself to just leave. Apartment 40 was on the bottom floor, on the opposite hall from Hux’s office. The yellow lamps in the halls felt dingier now than they had before. She’d once said they made her feel at home, reminding her of the soft incandescents she still had in some of her Christmas lights. No longer. 

Approaching the door, Rey felt the urge to just walk past, to go back upstairs, and to tell Hux to suck off his own damn “clients”. However mere seconds after she stepped in front of the mat the door was pulled open. The man who appeared towered over Rey, and his fingers flexed on the doorframe above him as he regarded her. 

“Just as pretty as the pictures. Better naked, but still nice,” he grunted. With that, he moved out of the way. Rey was frozen to the floor, her hands locked in front of her waist. How was she supposed to react to that? 

Seconds dragged on and Rey slowly regained control over her faculties. Moving one foot and then the other, she passed through the doorway into the apartment. It was a mirror image of her own and far more disheveled. 

The man locked the door behind them, sealing Rey to her fate. She cleared her throat and brushed her hair back. “What… I mean… I don’t know what Mr. Hux told you-” Rey said. She was quickly interrupted. 

“I’m your first, aren’t I?” he laughed. Rey’s face went crimson. For the thousandth time she wished that this was all some horrible dream. 

“My only,” she said defiantly. 

He crossed past her, seating himself on the only surface that had been completely cleared of debris - a wide sofa. He patted the space next to him twice. Rey looked at the ceiling as she slowly sank onto the cushion. “That’s it,” he said, cooing. His arm had already come around to bring her closer to him. 

Rey closed her eyes and counted to herself silently. “Can we please just… get on with it,” she breathed. 

“If that’s what you want,” he replied. He sounded disappointed. Rey felt his thumb rubbing on the back of her shirt in little circles. Then she heard his zipper. It took everything in her to not wince. Ten, nine, eight...

Rey’s eyes shot open when she felt him turn on the couch and place one hot hand on her waistband. “Hey!” she yelled, pushing herself as far back into the corner as she could. His brow furrowed. 

“What, are you one of those girls who has to get undressed herself? I don’t know if Hux forgot to explain this to you or just wanted you to learn on your own, but I’m the one paying. And I take what I’ve paid for,” he said sharply. 

Rey slapped away his next attempt to pull down her skirt. “Well you haven’t paid for that,” she spat. 

He studied her for a moment and then laughed. “Did you think you were just here to blow me? Because I’m not paying three hundred for  _ that.  _ You’re gonna fuck me,” he said. 

Ice ran through Rey’s veins. Her mouth went numb. “N-no,” she mumbled. “That’s… No.” 

He grabbed her wrists and dragged her from her corner onto his lap. Under her legs she could feel his bulge. “Yes,” he said simply. His hands pulled at her limbs, forcing her to straddle him properly. The teeth of his zipper bit into her inner thighs. “You’re gonna fuck me or you won’t have a place to live.”

“How do you-” Rey snarled. 

“Know that?” The man underneath her smiled cruelly. “Hux warned me that you might need a reminder to behave. So. Be a good girl and start working for your money.” He slapped her ass to emphasize the point. 

Rey bit her lip and drew her hands back from his chest. She didn’t know what to do. He took the lead now that she at least wasn’t actively pushing away from him and drew his hands underneath the edge of her shirt. “C’mon, babe,” he murmured. “Show me your tits.” 

His bulge was pressing against her panties, and Rey could feel his cock twitch as she pulled her top off. His hands came up immediately to greedily grab at her chest, thumbs swiping over her covered nipples. Rey rocked her hips as she arched her back. Guys liked that usually. 

The man between her legs agreed, a growl arising from his chest. Rey allowed herself a small smile. There were things she certainly knew about the male libido. 

However she’d never had a partner as demanding as this man was now. Not content to just palm her tits through the bra he started clawing at the clasp on the back. Rey flinched as his fingernails caught on her skin. He got it undone, yanking the offending fabric off roughly. His hands recovered her breasts, squeezing and fondling them. “I wanna fuck these, too,” he said with a laugh. 

Rey’s smile was gone, especially as the man moved again, this time to nearly throw Rey back onto the cushions of the couch and pull his pants down. Rey had to pull her arm out from under his knee as he knelt over her stomach, cock hard and proud over her. His hands returned yet again to her tits, gathering them together as he adjusted himself. He wasn’t gentle and his fingernails on one side were pressing right on her nipple. But Rey couldn’t even begin to complain about that when she realized what he’d meant. 

He pressed the tip of his cock into the hollow at the base of her breasts, smearing the trickle of precum that had formed already to the skin there. Then he rocked his hips forward, pushing himself into the channel her chest formed. His tip came out the other side to jut against her chin. The motion wasn’t smooth. There wasn’t any kind of lubrication other than the tiny drops of precum forming on his tip, and those were dotting against Rey’s chin as he pumped in and out. 

“Yeah, you’re good for more than just a blow,” he grunted. Rey blinked back tears from his rough handling of her chest and from hearing everything the man above her was saying. “God, you’re gonna be a good fuck, too. Aren’t you? Gonna have you begging for this cock.” 

She dragged her head back so that she didn’t have to keep looking at his face. All too soon he grew bored of fucking her chest. Or maybe he was just getting himself too worked up and didn’t want to miss out on the main attraction he’d paid for. Without warning he sat back on his heels and let got of her chest. He pushed her miniskirt up and dragged her panties down to tangle at her ankles. 

He had his cock in his hand, rubbing along its length with his thumb like he couldn’t go without stimulation for too long. “Hope you’re wet for me, babe,” he breathed. “Cause I don’t go in slow.” She felt him rub his tip along her folds before he started pressing the spongy head against her opening. 

Rey whined, stuffing her fingers in her mouth to keep the sound from carrying. Nothing they’d done had any chance of getting her aroused. The was all  _ wrong _ and  _ horrible _ . She squeezed her eyes shut as he started to press in earnest against her. “C’mon, babe. You’re gonna take it all,” he panted above her. 

He dropped down to lean directly over her, the angle improving his entry slightly, though there was only so much it could do against the friction. “Please,” Rey breathed into her fist. 

“Shh, shh, shh,” he whispered. “Be a good girl.” 

Good girl. That’s what Hux had said. Rey shook with a silent sob as the man sank further inside of her. He continued to murmur quiet nothings that Rey couldn’t listen to as he finally reached his base. He hissed and rocked his hips like he needed the confirmation he’d gotten there, making Rey hiccup against her hand again. 

Rey lifted her hips to see if it would help ease off the painful pressure of being stuffed by the man. He took it as eagerness, starting his thrusting in and out in earnest. Rey wished with each pull back that he’d drag himself all the way out; but he was enjoying her “hot fucking pussy” far too much for that, praising her for how tight she was for him. 

Mercifully he couldn’t keep up his pace for long, not before he stuttered and dropped onto her chest. Warmth spilled into her as he hit his release with a loud, guttural moan. Rey kept herself together for the next few minutes as the man slid out of her and set about wiping himself off. She pulled her panties back up, found her bra, and put on her shirt all without saying a word. With his cum slowly dripping down her inner thigh, Rey ran out of the apartment. 

It took her three times to open her own front door as she fumbled with the right way to hold her spare key. The tears in her eyes made it too hard to see, and she was fortunate enough to get the door fully shut behind her before she started to sob. 

How was she supposed to move on now? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter chapter, but this - as always - is for you, Assembling.


	5. Chapter Five

Getting out of bed shouldn’t have been difficult. Rey had been staring at her ceiling since four AM, unable to fall back to what little sleep she’d gotten. She hadn’t wanted to close her eyes; hadn’t wanted time to tick on further. 

The sun had risen while she lay there. Right on time the yellow beams painted her walls and floorboards eagerly. 

Morning brought complications. Morning meant that Rey needed to confront her reality of the previous night. It had been mindlessly simple to head back up the stairs to her apartment door, to run the shower till it turned her to ice, to lay down under her covers like she was now. Rey hadn’t thought about any of that. But she’d need to think now. Morning had come and with every exhale it passed further on still. 

The morning after. 

She hadn’t been on birth control for nearly a year. Her copay had put the expense into Rey’s “when I get a raise” column of her mental budget, and her boss hadn’t thought Rey was doing more than 23 an hour’s worth of work. So now Rey lay under her bedspread with her body aching inside and out as she tried to muster the strength to execute the obvious next steps she needed to take. 

It wasn’t  _ that _ hard to push the comforter away from her face and off of her chest. She’d showered last night - sort of - so all Rey had to do was put on a bra, a sweatshirt, and some pants in order to be somewhat presentable. Then there was walking back out through her building down to the lot in time to catch the bus into the part of town with the drugstore she had a loyalty card at. 

But her mental walkthrough stuttered to a halt here, just as it had been since four. Where she went from there - to the pharmacist’s counter - and what she needed to then ask for was simply unthinkable. 

She was a smart girl. Rey rolled over onto her side and stared unseeing at her clock. She had  _ thought _ she was a smart girl. And smart girls didn’t go to get emergency contraceptives because they’d agreed to be assaulted by a foul-mouthed creep in exchange for rent money. 

The sinking void in her gut opened once more, and Rey squeezed her eyes shut until they ached. Wetness still found its way onto her cheeks as she rocked further into a ball. 

This couldn’t be real. 

Stuffing her fist into her mouth helped stifle the audible sobs. 

_ This couldn’t be real. _

Screaming against her fingers tore at the void in her gut, shrinking it down to something manageable. 

This was real. And Rey was going to get past it. 

* * *

Nausea reigned in Rey’s gut. The pharmacist had told her it was a possibility after taking the pill, but Rey knew deep down it was more than just the side effect. Contraceptives didn’t numb your thoughts or dull your emotions as a sea of anxiety raged just under your skin. Rey soldiered on. 

As much as she wanted to curl back under her comforter for a week, Rey found that returning to work the next day cut back her despair to a manageable ache in her chest rather than the full-fledged agony that yesterday had been. She’d dutifully set a reminder for the second dose of her medication the previous night, and by the time she got up for her six AM shift Rey was feeling… functional. 

Her boss wasn’t in the office for the day. The other mechanics let her alone with her assigned jobs. No one ate her lunch in the communal fridge. It was, almost miraculously, a straightforward day. 

For the first time since Hux forced himself into her home, Rey smiled at something completely meaningless. Still, it was strange to feel that bit of joy blossoming in her chest where despair had so tightly clung. 

* * *

Rey fought, tooth and nail, to keep that flicker of warmth and hope alive inside of her. She spent the next three days away from her apartment, hopping from couch to couch at her friends’ homes. Spending time with those who actually cared about her was cathartic, even healing. Rey didn’t have to think about their motives or any secret duplicity. She just got to enjoy herself. As an added benefit, she avoided being within two blocks of her apartment building.

Still, there was a limit to how well she could hand-wash her spare and borrowed clothes, nevermind her hair and body. Keeping to herself the reason for her sudden bout of clinginess was also more taxing than Rey was anticipating. 

Secrecy had never been in Rey’s nature before. But there was no way that she could tell anyone - no matter how close they were - about her “agreements” with Hux. The slow smolder of shame crept greater each day that Rey spent with her adoptive family. It, and practicality, forced her to leave Rose’s place after an early dinner to once again board the Yellow Line back home. 

Rey shouldered her bag as the bus pulled away from the corner. Then, simple as breathing, she walked to her building and went inside. Her gut didn’t churn. Her palms didn’t sweat. She had dealt with her emergency, gotten some fresh air, and was prepared to make good on her promise that horrible night: that man was going to be her  _ only _ visit as Hux’s girl.  

* * *

Her mail had a piece with the agency’s letterhead in it. Too early for the new utilities invoice, Rey noted with almost clinical observance. It was barely the second weekend of the month and a week away from the 15th. Rather than waiting until she was upstairs to read it, Rey ripped open the envelope right in the entry hall.

Her calm veneer peeled away like cheap paint. 

_ RE: OUTSTANDING BALANCE _

_ See me, if you please.  _

Five words with utterly false courtesy sent ice down Rey’s spine. She had to still the tremble that came to her wrist as she folded the page back into its envelope. Her eyes went to the clock overhead. Five of five. Either that would put Hux in a hurry and not want to leer about, or… Rey ignored the second option. He was a busy man. He didn’t have time to waste after the office was closed. That was what he’d always claimed. 

Rey steeled herself and went down the hall. 

“Mr. Hux, My balance is clear,” Rey snapped as soon as she’d shut the door behind herself. As much as she didn’t want to be alone with Hux, her pride burned too much to discuss  _ how  _ she’d cleared her balance with just anyone able to listen in. 

His lip had curled up when he’d heard her speak. Just because he smoothed it out when he lifted his head hadn’t meant Rey had missed seeing it. She folded her arms tightly across her chest, a bastion of strength and determination. 

Hux leaned back in his chair and folded his hands together. “We never closed out the issue,” he said smoothly. 

Between gritted teeth, she managed to reply, “We didn’t have to. I received your notice. The service was done. I figured the  _ happy customer _ would have more than told you, since you’d spoken together already about my situation.” That was the only positive, now, to what the man had said that night. What had intimidated her then now gave her ammunition here. If he’d known that Hux was leveraging Rey’s rent, he had to have known that she was… performing… to compensate for that. 

Her mind recoiled at the memory, but Rey shoved past the visceral nausea to throw more at Hux. “In fact, I know it should have more than covered the  _ issue _ since it was more than just a ‘shitty blowjob.’ Three hundred bucks worth of coverage,” she hissed. 

Behind the desk, Hux’s form stiffened. His response was stilted, and it was Rey’s turn to crack a hard-won smirk. “Yes that would… more than cover your balance,” he said. One hand drifted towards his drawers. Maybe he was going to hand over the remainder. Or maybe he was going to throw some trumped up new bill at Rey instead. 

Whatever he’d been thinking, Hux stopped and returned his hands together. “We’ll call it even after my arrangement fee,” Hux said. 

Rey teetered on the balls of her feet. Her face was red. She could feel the warmth on her cheeks. But she’d eked out the win this time. Hux wasn’t going to get anything more out of her this time. 

_ No. Not just this time. _ Rey swore again to herself that this was it. No more fucking around. 

She could have fought more. Maybe tried to get the extra hundred bucks. But all Rey wanted to do was get the hell out of Hux’s miserable den. Fighting back could extinguish the tiny flame of happiness she’d sheltered so carefully. 

“Then we’re even,” Rey agreed. She turned on her heel and strode out. Victorious. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter after a bit of a delay.


	6. Interlude One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the second part of the update. I ended up keeping last chapter shorter as I wanted to including this interlude of sorts from Hux's perspective. Just to give a hint of what's going on in his mind.

She’d startled him. 

Not because she had pushed back against his last taunt - Hux had been anticipating that she wouldn’t take the implied threat of further extortion laying down - but with what she’d said about her first job for him. Rey had claimed it cost the client well over what he’d actually paid Hux. And to make matters more difficult, it seemed that Yago had gotten more than just the blowjob Hux had told the man he’d be getting. 

All of that spelled out trouble for Yago, mostly, but what Hux now puzzled over in his office was one supremely interesting facet. Obviously Rey was furious and disgusted. They way she’d stormed into his office ready to fight him over the invoice was evidence enough. He’d pushed her far beyond what the girl had ever wanted to yield. And yet…

Hux flipped his computer monitor back on. A few mouse clicks opened up the security cameras in the building. Two more pulled up the date and time he was looking for in the hall. He watched as Rey shakenly approached Yago’s door, waited, and quietly entered after he said something undoubtably crude. Yes, there was hesitation that needed to be smoothed away, and later when she left she was far too distressed for most clientele. But. She’d gone in on time and given Yago  _ some _ kind of a fuck. That spelled promise. That spelled cash. And Rey - who had always been too far under the minimum salary line for any other landlord to risk renting that size apartment to - would no doubt need cash again. 

He shifted in his seat, adjusting for the arousal now trying to tent his slacks. Hux hadn’t been certain when he had first signed Rey into her lease with the building. She had a fire in her from whatever unfortunate circumstances her youth had entailed. But she was also desperate and more than a little too conciliatory with the gaps in her application. That had been enough for Hux to take the risk. 

And what a payoff he’d gotten, even just so far. He’d never anticipated just how powerful his threat of eviction would be over Rey. The first evening that she had come in begging for an extension? All Hux had realistically expected was to intimidate her a bit and put the fear of god into her to sell something halfway valuable to avoid his wrath. Maybe if she were further in debt or perhaps if she were even less secure, then he would have expected her to be more receptive to his compromise. When she actually  _ listened _ to him and got on her knees--

“Fuck it,” Hux hissed. He stood to click the lock on his door. He’d already gotten the carpet cleaned once. He could get it done again. Then, he had a visit to make. 

* * *

Yago wasn’t home that evening. Hux left him a note under the door and waited. He would have preferred to have their conversation in his office - the home field advantage was always a benefit - it seemed that Yago was suddenly completely oblivious to Hux’s requests. He didn’t show up on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday even after a second note. By Wednesday, Hux’s patience was beyond depleted.

He watched the security feed with hawklike determination all day, even past the usual office close hours, until he saw Yago lumber into his apartment. His stance, which had seemed particularly unsteady, was obviously the result of whatever substance he had combined with a rather healthy helping of liquor that Hux could now smell on his breath. Yago invited Hux inside with a grimace before staggering over to fall onto the couch. 

“Don’t think I need a girl this week,” Yago muttered into the cushions. “Didn’t think you’d swing by to schedule when I di’n’t call you. Don’ worry about me.” He was a pathetic lump of a man, and this had been exactly why he’d given Rey to him first. Normally all he’d want was a pair of tits to leer at and his cock sucked nice and sweet. 

Hux glowered at the man. There was no part of him that was worrying about Yago in any form. He kicked Yago’s booted foot. “I don’t hunt down customers who steal from me to ask them to please do so again,” Hux snarled. 

Yago barely shifted. He made some sort of noise that was lost to the cushion. Hux kicked his shin next, causing the man to grunt in pain and flail his way onto the ground with a  _ whump. _ “Why couldn’t you have just been simple and stupid? All you needed to do was sit back and let her suck you off,” Hux continued. 

Some awareness managed to figure out that this wasn’t the conversation Yago thought had been happening. His arm pressed him to lean partially off of the floor. “I always git a blow,” Yago said, his voice still garbled despite there being only his tongue in the way now. 

Hux had quite been enjoying kicking the man and as he circled to crouch by Yago’s head, he gave the man one more into the gut for good measure. “You always pay for a blow,” Hux corrected harshly. “But tell me, Yag, is that what you always get?”

The bleary-eyed man repeated himself. “Ae always git a blow.” 

Perhaps there was something vaguely respectable about the way Yago was clinging to his lie. Or maybe the man was so addled that he genuinely believed himself. Hux didn’t bother leveraging his usual shark-like smile at the man. “That’s not what I’ve been hearing. Three hundred, you said you were paying. Then why the fuck do I only have two fifties in my drop box from you, hm?” 

Yago blinked, slow and wet. He mouthed Hux’s words to himself. “I… she told you?”

Hux sighed and looked up at the ceiling. There was the man that he’d known Yago to be. Too stupid to hold onto his lie for long. He regarded the man once more. “That’s not really the issue at hand,” Hux said. 

He took a fistful of the man’s shirt to drag him closer to his face. “You fucked her, didn’t you? She was new. Did you even listen when I told you just the goddamn blowjob? Or did you leave all the thinking to your lizard brain like usual?” Bits of spittle flew onto Yago’s collar before Hux threw him back down onto the ground. He continued to leer over the man, waiting for the slow creep of realization to come into the man’s eyes. 

“You want the- the m-money,” Yago stammered. 

Hux tipped his head. “I want the- the m-money,” he parroted Yago’s stammer back to him with biting cruelty. He stood once more to get away from the stench of Yago’s breath. He was regretting not having kicked this creten out of his client list - and his building - before now. 

“Of fucking course I want my goddamn money. Twice over for fucking a girl you should have known to keep your miserable-” Hux couldn’t resist slamming his toes once again into the man’s gut “-fucking-” another kick “-hands off of.” 

Yago wheezed and rolled furtively away from Hux. It seemed to have finally occurred to him that Hux’s anger wasn’t fading and that it might be beneficial for him to put some distance between them. “She’s j’st a whore. I’ll get you the money, but take it easy on my guts, ‘Ux,” Yago coughed. 

Hux stepped to shadow over Yago once more. The man flinched accordingly on the floor, shielding his face with his arm. “She’s  _ mine _ , Yago. So you treat her how I say to,” Hux snarled. After Yago frantically bobbed his head in agreement, Hux finally moved away. 

“Get me my money,” he ordered as he left. “Or you’re out.” Hux had already made up his mind to send him packing, now, but maybe the threat would get Yago to shell out even more. Hux could only hope so. 

He had a lot of work cut out for him now, cleaning up after this fuck up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, check out "[Past Due](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16354607)", a oneshot by Someassemblingrequired that's an offshoot of this fic's universe. It's just as delicious, I think.


End file.
